I read an article recently that stated Wednesday is the best day to take time off. The reasoning? It breaks up the workweek, allowing you to recharge your mental batteries, which leads to less stress and improved productivity. While the allure of a three-day weekend is undeniable, you don’t reap the same benefits taking Friday or Monday off.
Another bonus: fewer crowds. And that was the main reason why Tara and I took a PTO day yesterday.
Well, that and cream puffs.
Last year, we went to the Wisconsin State Fair and had a blast. But we went on a Saturday and encountered an enormous traffic backup. It took us an hour to get from our freeway exit to the fairgrounds…a distance of one mile. As fun as it was, ain’t nobody got time for traffic jams, so we decided we’d go on a weekday next time and hopefully avoid those crowds.
This turned out to be a very good idea. It took us about 58 fewer minutes to pull into the fairground parking lot in West Allis after exiting I-94 than it did last year. And the fair itself, while still plenty busy, wasn’t nearly as packed.
We spent about five hours and 15,000 steps walking all over the fairgrounds. My only real goal was to not get a burrito – a mistake I made at the Jefferson County Fair last month. The burrito was fine, but the whole point of a fair is food like corn dogs and funnel cake. Well, this being Wisconsin, we opted for brat Rangoons and cheese curd tacos. And a pepperoni pizza pretzel brat that gets bonus points for being served on a stick.
No doubt about it: the State Fair is a splurge day.
We also enjoyed the pig races, even though we had sweat trickling down our backs from sitting on the aluminum bleachers beneath the midday sun. But that’s a small price to pay for getting to yell “SOOEY!” at the top of your lungs.
(Tara did not yell “SOOEY!” at the top of her lungs. In fact, she pretended not to know me when I did. Whatevs!)
Thankfully, the air-conditioned expo center provided an icy blast of relief. By 4 p.m. we’d had our fill, so we headed home – but not before grabbing an iconic Original Cream Puff®. If you don’t, Wisconsin will deport your ass to (gasp!) Illinois. Seriously, you tell anyone you’re headed to the fair, and they all say the exact same thing: “You have to get a cream puff!”
All in all, it was another great visit to the fair. Going on a weekday made a huge difference, and I have to say, I’m sold on the science behind this whole Wednesday-is-the-best-day-to-take-off thing. It felt like a mini-weekend, and coming back to work on a Thursday sure as hell beats coming back to work on a Monday.
I may have to do this more often.
Not So Peachy Keen
One of the things we love most about our property is our peach tree. Last year, it produced an abundant harvest.
This year? Well…
It’s not that we didn’t get very many. On the contrary, we had an absolute bumper crop. The problem? Tara thinned them out, but not as extensively as she should have. It probably didn’t help that I kept yelling, “Peach murderer!” every time she picked one from the tree. As a result, we had huge clusters of peaches that came in tiny, took forever to ripen, and weighed down the branches so much, several of them snapped. Only later did we learn you should leave 4-6″ of space between each peach.
Ultimately, I turned into a peach murderer myself, climbing a ladder and plucking literally hundreds of small, hard peaches and chucking them into the woods in order to keep the remaining branches from breaking. I salvaged a handful, which make up in flavor and juiciness what they lack in size, but still: major bummer, dude.
Sadly, there will be no homemade peach pie this year.
Disappointing though this was, Tara reminded me that it’s all one big learning process. She meant caring for fruit trees in this case, but really, what she said applies to life in general. It’s all trial and error: you figure out what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly. She does this all the time when gardening. Hell, we did it by switching out State Fair days this year. I’m sure you can come up with plenty of examples of your own.
One big win this year? I have (thus far, knock on wood) managed to avoid any poison ivy rashes. I’ve been diligently treating every plant I find with a glyphosate-based herbicide – a rare exception to our “no chemicals” rule, but a far more effective approach than pouring boiling water on the plants or digging them up by hand, both of which I have tried with little success. Marking where the stuff grows with pink flags has prevented me from inadvertently wandering into a big patch, too.
See? Trial and error. I itched a lot in 2023, a little less in 2024, and not at all in 2025.
I often joke that by the time we figure out all the little intricacies of caring for this place, whether that means eradicating poison ivy, growing bigger peaches, or keeping our goldfish alive through the winter, we’ll be ready for a nursing home.
Do you take mid-week vacations? Have you ever yelled “SOOEY!”? Biggest trial-and-error life lesson you’ve learned?
Mark My Words 
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